Cap & Trade Finally Dead?

Looks like carbon offsets have met their demise. They were notably missing from the President's speech last night.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38599.html

President Barack Obama pleaded Tuesday night for Congress to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation, but he may have put the dagger into his long-sought plans for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions by opening the door for alternatives.

Some observers also see this as a sign that there won't be a major climate bill this year:

A former Senate aide said there was much to be read into Obama's silence on carbon caps.

 

"The fact he had a phrase or sentence for each of the alternatives and clearly didn't have the sentence that would have been a carbon cap made it clear he's not making a push this summer for a Senate climate bill," the former aide said.

But the President does indicate a lack of patience on the issue:

"All of these approaches have merit and deserve a fear hearing in the months ahead," Obama added. "But the one approach I will not accept is inaction. The one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is too big and too difficult to meet."

(I think the author meant to write "fair hearing" in the quote above!)

And there is some reason to think a bill may still be forthcoming this year. Senators Kerry and Lieberman have co-authored a bill that cap emissions below 2005 levels by 2020, and are pressuring Harry Reid to schedule some floor time to debate the bill in July. And a group of Republicans is actually sponsoring a bill to increase fuel efficiency standards even further.

But this probably comes as a disappointment to House Democrats, who pushed a cap-and-trade bill through last June, but it's never made it to the Senate floor. President Obama did mention that bill in his speech, praising the House, but somewhat in passing. He'd likely sign such a bill if it passed the Senate, but since it won't he's acknowledging that it's time to move forward without cap-and-trade.